Topic of the Week - I wish I knew…

[Hinotori]

Which breeds should be avoided together?

I have silkies and ameraucana that get along fairly well but are kept in separate pens. Had barred rocks that tried to kill the silkies and beat up the ameraucana. Brahma did fine with ameraucana. New Hampshire were so so.

Some breeds are aggressive and others very laid back. Always read up on a breed and it's temperament.

Breeds with big crests like silkies or polish can't even seen the attacks when they come

 

[Folly's place]

Favorelles are lovely birds, very sweet. Too sweet to live well with production reds or other tough personalities.
I didn't enjoy my first Silkies; didn't understand how fragile they are, and when they died off, never got more of them. Best in a separate coop, IMO. Even the Belgian d'Uccles pushed them around too much.
Henderson's breed chart is a good resource, as is feathersite, and some of the catalogs.
Mary

 

[Blooie]

Silkies? Mine didn’t get the memo. Brooded outdoors in the run from the start, fully integrated with the flock of standards by 4 weeks, frigid, dark, long Wyoming winters, outside playing when it was 9 degrees with snow on the ground.

 

[Folly's place]

You had way tougher Silkies than mine!
Mary

 

[Blooie]

Must have!

 

[aliciaplus3]

Incubating is very addictive! !! Start with 17 to test the incubator, next thing you know it's full year round sometimes with your eggs sometimes with eggs for a friend or two. As soon as people find out you can use an incubator they will want you to hatch all kinds of things, turkeys, ducks, quail rare chickens..... I enjoy it but sometimes hate to see the chicks leave.

 

[Alexandra33]

I wish I had known not all roosters are the devil, and incompatible with children. Also wish I knew I'd never again have peace when working out in the yard.

~Alex

 

[Redfisher1997]

I wish id known how dangerous integrating chickens can be, almost lost one my first time integrating chickens and it was a terrible experience ( more so for my poor chicken but still i felt bad)

also wish i took more precautions when it comes to predators, we built our coop like fort Knox but from all the things at live in the swamps in FL that attack during the day while free ranging or the neighbors dog ive lost more than id ever thought i would.

Honestly i cant say i wished i knew anything more because when i first got my chicks five years ago i did a bunch of research and BYC was my main source for information and still is today! Thanks to you all in total ive raised: 26 Chickens and 6 Turkeys.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

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Pic by @Hinotori
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Hindsight is always 20/20 they say and I don't think there is a chicken keeper alive that doesn't have at least one "I wish I knew this before…" when it comes to chicken keeping.

Be it knowing how addictive chicken keeping is, or that a coop needs to be predator-proof, or that keeping a few too many roosters in a flock is usually not a good idea, or that chickens peck really hard, we all learned some lessons, good, bad, funny, or sad along the way.

This week I would like to know what you wish you knew before you started keeping chickens and the things you learned along the way.

See here for a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive.72529/

There's several but the first one is probably how smart they are yet dumb at the same time. When I first got chicks, I didn't think they would be as beneficial to my mental health as they are. I didn't think I would enjoy sitting in my backyard while my chickens scratch the ground & forage. I didn't know they would be entertaining & their shenanigans so comical. I definitely didn't think I would have a monthly subscription for their favorite snacks! Life is so much better with those fluffy dinos.